Consuming Fire
by rightxhere
Summary: AU. In the eleven years he had been with the Stargate program, he had never felt so closely afflicted by the many great travesties he had paid witness to as he was by today.


**Title: **Consuming Fire  
**Author: **Demelza**  
Disclaimer: **Without Prejudice. I don't own Daniel or Sam. All original characters are the authors' creation. Stargate SG1 and its characters are the property of MGM and all their other owners. No infringement of these copyrights are intended, and are used here without permission.  
**Words:** 1497  
**Rating: **O15  
**Pairing: **Daniel/Sam**  
Warnings: **Character death, Apocalypse!Fic  
**Spoilers:** Threads, in Season 8  
**Summary:**AU. In the eleven years he had been with the Stargate program, he had never felt so closely afflicted by the many great travesties he had paid witness to as he was by today; by what he knew would be written into the history books as the darkest day in Earth's history.  
**Notes:** I tried my best to catch all the little things like dates, timelines, etc,. But the brain can be a funny thing, and not pick up on all everything :) But yeah, fully beta'd numerous times by me, so if there are any mistakes they're owed to the fact one really shouldn't beta-read their own work! Heh! 

\/

The warmth of the bedding beneath them a slight comfort, Daniel lay on the bed, holding his three year old daughter Emma close to him. Her head was resting against his chest, her breathing was slow, and were it not for the fact she held a death grip on his shirt, he'd have thought – _by some miracle_ – she might be sleeping.

In the eleven years he had been with the Stargate program, he had never felt so closely afflicted by the many great travesties he had paid witness to as he was by today; by what he knew would be written into the history books as the darkest day in Earth's history.

Softly inhaling, he opened his eyes when he heard footsteps. He watched as Sam moved to her side of the bed. She climbed atop the queen-size bed they'd been sharing almost four years now, scooted closer and laid down, with her head on the pillow with Daniel.

Pulled himself and Emma closer to her, Daniel wound an arm around Sam.

Her hand trembling, she placed her hand on Emma's shoulder, gently asked, "How is she?"

"Afraid," he murmured, looking down at their daughter. Her eyes were closed, her long blond curls framing her small, sad face.

"And you?" Sam asked.

Their eyes locked for the longest moment, when Daniel's forehead creased deeply. "Angry. Terrified. You?"

There was an unwritten sadness in her eyes, when Sam gave him a small, forced smile. "I've had better days." She was silent for a moment, when she added, "I'm just glad you're here."

"Me too," he whispered.

After a moment, he began to wonder again just how everything had gone as horribly wrong as it had. They had all worked so hard in different ways to do what they could to stop the Garegin incursion from occurring, but having heard the distant roar of battle-forged thunders since dusk – growing closer by the hour – he knew they'd failed.

Daniel's breath caught and he looked back at Sam. "It feels like everything we did..._everything we tried to do,_ was like..."

A faint smile curved her lips. "...chasing the wind?" she murmured.

He returned her smile with a small one of his own. "Yeah," he said as an explosion – one of many since the dusk attacks had begun – sounded, and caused the room to light up with flashes of oranges and yellow.

"They're getting closer," he heard Sam whisper.

Another explosion, and this time louder than the last, _but one so familiar, _and both knew for certain one of the Garegin battle ships had been destroyed.

They were lucky to have that victory. _However short-lived it is, _he thought.

"Daddy, I'm scared."

His chest aching, Daniel pressed a tender kiss atop his daughter's head. "I know, Em," he whispered.

_I'd give anything, Lord—anything if you'd just get them out of harm's way._

"Mommy and Daddy are here, Sweetheart," Sam said, taking Daniel from his prayer.

He watched with the faintest tears in his eyes, his mind drifting back to when things had first developed between he and Sam. They had only spent the one night together (less than a month after Jacob had died), when – weeks later – Sam had broken the news to him over coffee that she was pregnant. More so, that the baby was his

The seven-week premature delivery of Emma Katelyn Jackson in a Colorado Springs maternity hospital months later had brought forth the first time Daniel could recall ever seeing Sam truly afraid.

A soft sob escaped, causing him to choke on more tears, recalling how certain the doctor had been in his prognosis of Emma not living beyond a week. A prognosis Emma had proved the man wrong – _just like Sam had professed she would – _when she surpassed all their expectations, and was sent home three and a half weeks sooner than the time line finally agreed on

And he remembered how happy he had been, seeing Sam holding Emma for the first time. He hadn't seen all the wires connected to her, or the fine black tube that was helping her to feed. All he'd seen was how blessed he and Sam were, to be given such a precious gift. And he remembered how happy Sam was. How she had cried tears of joy, at finally being able to hold their tiny daughter in her arms.

Inhaling, Daniel blinked then, watching as Sam gave their daughter several kisses on the cheek.

Moving carefully, so as not to disturb or squash Emma too much, Daniel kissed Sam's forehead to still her, prayed in his mind to God, that He not let this happen to him. Not when he was so happy. Not when, _finally_, he felt like everything was exactly the way it was meant to be for him. _For both of them._

"I should have done more, Sam," he heard himself say after a long few moments. He gazed into her eyes, met her tears with more of his own. "I should have...found some way, some kind of..._something..._to prevent this war from happening."

"You tried, Daniel. God knows we all did."

He moved his hand from where it rested on her hip, and gently caressed her cheek with the pad of this thumb. "It wasn't enough, though. Was it?"

"In the end, it wasn't up to us. The IOA..."

She didn't finish, but he knew what she had been about to say.

The truth.

_The truth _in how the IOA had already made their minds up as to what would happen. How they had already turned their backs on Earth, and had all but removed from the planet all those they had deemed 'worthy' to save.

Sam's rebuttal of their decisions in regards to the Garegin treaty, and her every attempt to get their decisions over-turned, had gotten her discharged from the Air Force, and now...now she, _they_, were like the millions of other Earth inhabitants. _Alone, _and left to try fight, and failat every attempt to defend themselves.

Daniel gave a gentle nod, tucked some of Sam's shoulder-length blond hair behind her ear. "I love you, Sam. Have done since..."

Tears flooding her eyes, Sam nodded "I know," she whispered. "I love you too. I love you._..so...much."_

Weapons fire and explosions grew louder outside.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Emma cried against her dad's chest.

Sam kissed the back of her daughter's head, "We're here, Emma."

"I'm afraid, Mommy!"

"I know, Sweetheart. I know," she softly said, rubbing her daughter's back.

The weapons fire stopped suddenly, and Daniel and Sam stared at one another.

_They knew what the silence meant._

Before Sam had been forced into 'early retirement', attempts to barter peace with the ruthless Necromongers saw the pair working with several other teams, where they had found themselves reluctant witnesses to the complete destruction of _entire_ civilizations.

Reports on the wire had reported what Jack had coined 'The Calm Before the Great Storm of Death', where cities _by the dozens _were wiped out within minutes of one another.

Soon – _Too soon_, Daniel thought – the weapon fire of the Garegin ships resumed, shaking the very foundations of the house.

Emma's sobbing quickly grew into screams.

"It's okay, Emma," Daniel's tried to assure her, his voice trembling and words fading as the as the sounds outside the house rushed around them.

They heard windows shattering from the shock wave of an explosion so much closer to their home than the last had been, and Sam cried out, "Daniel!"

Heart raging with fear, his lungs desperate for the breath of air the burning, rushing shock wave stopped him from being able to catch, Daniel felt the tears on Sam's cheek touch the tip of his nose as he pressed his mouth to hers, kissing her one last time.


End file.
